STORRS — Over the past week, the UConn women's basketball team encountered a significant amount of adversity in the form of injuries to key players, a limited roster and the challenges posed by three skilled and physical highly ranked opponents.

While there are enough talented players on the team to persevere through such difficulties, the Huskies still needed someone with the proper perspective and mindset to confidently guide them. Senior guard Bria Hartley provided the type of leadership from which the team could reap season-long benefits.

She did more than just lead the team in scoring two of the last three games. She provided energy, aggression and poise to put the No. 1-ranked Huskies (4-0) in a great state of mind heading into today's Oregon (2-1) game which begins a four-game stretch over five days.

They've emerged from the most difficult portion of their schedule full of confidence by following Hartley's lead.

"She is confident when she is aggressive, and when she is aggressive she is confident," Coach Geno Auriemma said. "We try to keep her going in that direction, because she makes a huge impact when she's aggressive. If we didn't have her in that state of mind right now given how young our other guards are and not having Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis), we would be in big trouble. She and Stefanie (Dolson) are the glue."

It was Hartley who stepped up when the Huskies faced their first big challenge of the season, scoring 20 points against No. 3-ranked Stanford in a game in which Breanna Stewart played only four first-half minutes due to foul trouble, and Mosqueda-Lewis was injured two minutes into the second half.

"I think as a senior I need to kind of step up and show everyone else how to step up," Hartley said. "Saniya (Chong) is young. Moriah (Jefferson) is still young, and Brianna (Banks) didn't really play a lot last year so I kind of put a lot of the responsibility on myself to go out there and make an impact for our team. I'm at my best when I'm aggressive and making plays."

Hartley followed up her outstanding Stanford performance by shooting 4-for-21 from the field against No. 8 Maryland Friday night, but she responded by playing great defense against the Terps and then scoring a career-high 29 points against No. 13 Penn State on Sunday.

The resilience and maturity she exhibited by bouncing back so quickly is very encouraging for this team.

"I feel like I've matured just because of all the experience," Hartley said. "We've been to the Final Four three times. Now we have won a national championship so we have learned what it takes to win. So when I am out there, I just have a better perspective and mindset about everything."

Last season, Hartley's lingering ankle injury robbed her of her confidence, and she never really fully regained it until the NCAA Tournament where she played a vital role in leading the Huskies to the title.

"As well as she played in the NCAA Tournament last year kind of set her off on this path," Auriemma said. "She just knows she is good, and she just goes out and plays like that."

Hartley is leading the team in scoring at 16.3 points per game as well as assists with 19 compared to only six assists. She is second on the team with eight steals.

"She is the perfect type of player we need right now, because she has confidence and leadership," Dolson said. "That is a great combination for others to feed off. And when we need her, she steps up and makes those big shots and big plays. I've been extremely proud how she has bounced back from last year to get right back into the right frame of mind and lead us through the tough games."

Hartley said she may have been an All-American as a sophomore, but she knows she's a much better player this season.

"My sophomore year I know I played great, but there were still a lot of things I had to work on and a lot of things I didn't know," Hartley said. "Now even if I make a mistake I already know what I have to do to correct it before Coach tells me. I understand everything more."

Hartley is still going to have her ups and downs, but even when she is missing her shots she is playing hard and instilling confidence in everyone.

"On Friday night when I saw the stat sheet, I was probably the most surprised person in the room," Auriemma said. "I never expect her to do that. I always expect when there are shots to be made at a time when they really need to be made, I don't know that there is anybody else that I would rather have shooting the ball."

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